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My mother has been in a Care Center for approx. 6 years.  When I brought her in she was out of control and in bad shape due to she would not clean or take care of herself and was totally unsociable.  However, in a fairly short time they had her in a decent mood and fairly sociable - I am assuming the change was  due to meds. and she has really been quite good for at least 6 years! However about 1 month ago she seemed to come down with a bad flu that numerous other patients had and though her cough is gone, her lungs are clear and physically is fine - she is not the same. She has become extremely uncontrollable within the past two weeks - screaming down the hall from her room, yelling, sarcastic, etc - maybe even worse then when she first came there. Today my son and I went to see her - now she is always nasty to me but NEVER to my son. She was so nasty to him he could not believe it. She kept screaming to "take her to a hospital, she was sick to her stomach" yet she had eaten her breakfast with gusto and was fine yesterday they said. Then she just got so horribly nasty to us yelling and sarcastic we had to leave. The Center tells me my brother, who is a bad alcoholic, has been calling her several times a day and they don't know what he is saying to her. They feel this could be bringing her great stress which results in her actions or she could be advancing in her dementia but 2 weeks ago she was fine! Any ideas? She seems to be getting worse!

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Hi Concerned,
First thing that comes to mind is a UTI (a urinary tract infection). Be sure she gets tested and treated for this,. It can make them "go looney". A hard infection (flu) can cause mental confusion too.

Have they changed any of her meds recently? That can account for personality changes.
Is she dehydrated? The flu can dehydrate you pretty badly. Have them offer her double the amount of fluids that she drinks. Jello counts too.

Any way the facility can limit the amount of calls from your brother? That would certainly put me in a bad mood (I had 2 alcoholic parents, so I know.) Hold most of his calls and see if her demeanor improves.

Has she been rechecked by an MD since she was diagnosed with the flu?

Yes, in my mom's case anyway, it seemed she went downhill overnight (certainly within a week) and never "came back" to the stage she was.
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Alzheimer's is progressive and can progress quickly, even within a day. I've witnessed this myself.

However, Sue had some good suggestions for you. Get her checked for a UTI. With Alzheimer's she may not be able to articulate symptoms.
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